Black and White sounds very attractive but when white is the paper and black is the writing on top of it, it can be very boring. Our elementary school subject books in Pakistan were very much like this. They were black and white and devoid of all color. I spent many hours trying to understand them only to find later in life that I was a visual learner. It was very hard trying to study with plain text and no pictures. One day my older brother convinced us to contribute to his fund to buy a computer. My sister and I got very excited since computers were not very common in those days. After handing him a years worth of allowance money we finally bought a computer.
I remember the day it arrived as we marveled at the all the components from the keyboard to the CPU and the monitor. However our excitement soon turned to betrayal and frustation as we realized that my brother would have total control over it. This experience upset me so much that I decided to pursue a career in Computer Sciences. After a very short time I soon figured that computer programming was something I always wanted to learn.
After graduating with a Computer Science degree I started a family and moved to the United States. Life became very busy… but something inside me always turned me toward a career in Computer Sciences. Life in the US was very different. I noticed that individualism and strength was more valued, whereas where I was from relationships and how you fit within a group was more important.
In todays world we have a wealth of information at our fingertips. We even have instant knowledge at the click of a mouse button and know which restaurant our friend is at, at any given moment. However, if an ambulance were to come to an old neigbors house in response to a medical emergency we would not know until a day or two later.
Modern technology, no doubt very important, has start disconnecting us from one another. We are losing interest in small acts of wonder and amazement Nothing feels surprising. Learning from older generations, listening to their childhood stories, one can imagine how it was. and not just by watching a video.
A story that teaches a great lesson by Ashfaq Ahmed, one of Pakistan’s greatest literary masters.
“Belonging to a small village, big cities were always a big attraction for young village people. After my adolescent years I joined Government College - Lahore to pursue my masters in Urdu literature. After learning about life in a big city, I felt not only confident but also started learning new information about the world. I used to spend time with an old old man while I as living in my village and went back to visit him while on leave from my studies.
He was same man but the Big City had changed me quite a bit.
After greeting and exchanging thoughts I tried to impress him by saying “BaBa, (A term of endearment for older people) do you know that a fly has eight thousand lenses; thats why when you try to kill her she flies away.” I sat there waiting for the old man to comment on my astutue observation. After looking thoughtfully towards the ground the old man replied “But son, even with so many lenses, the fly still sits on garbage”. The wisdom in his answer left me speechless”
(Ashfaq Ahmed)
Today we have to decide which one to choose; information or knowledge?
We can build a number of technologies, can find life on Mars, have AI decide traffic flow but there are still people unable to live under a roof. Some even go to sleep hungry. In my opinion the advancement of technology should be used to save humanity. We the humans, tend to adopt what is the most beneficial thing to us from the previous generation. But in the recent era we have started losing this ability of adoptation from our previous generation, and hence losing what was the most important thing to the generations before us; Relations.
One of my major objectives after becoming a web developer is to build a system using modren technology that bridges the gap between the older and younger generations. My dream is to see young kids helping and holding the hands of older people, closing the generation gap and to see one generation learning from another.
By Aniqa Elahi